“Fatherland or Death, We Shall Conquer”

This thesis contributes to scholarship surrounding the United Nations (UN) and postcolonial studies through analyzing Burkina Faso’s membership to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). It does so by analyzing this case in the context of anticolonialism and neocolonialism. By employing the concepts of Sankarism and Otherness this thesis illustrates the nature of postcolonial influences at the UNSC. These concepts are examined through UNSC meeting reports which in turn are analyzed using the Colonial Discourse Analysis method. Additionally, the discourse at the UNSC is compared to the discourse outside of the UNSC. Burkina Faso’s membership to the UNSC is of particular interest as in the period between 1984 to 1985, which is the period in which Burkina Faso had a temporary seat on the UNSC, Burkina Faso’s leader Thomas Sankara was a prominent voice of anti-imperialist rhetoric. However, the entire period of Sankara’s presidency, from 1983 to 1987, is of relevance to this project. In doing so, this project has shown how anticolonial discourse was featured at the UNSC, but also how it was limited as a result of the nature of the UNSC as an organization and as a result of the conduct of permanent members of the UNSC.